105 Civil servents go to court for the illegal appointment of DMG officer as an Ambassador. 19-07-09 Dawn News Report.

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ISLAMABAD, July 18: The Islamabad High Court is likely to take up on Monday a challenge by 105 senior civil servants of the Foreign Office against the appointment of a mid-level officer of the district management group as ambassador to France.

In a legal challenge , some of top officials of the foreign ministry, including several incumbent ambassadors, have joined hands in an attempt to prevent an official from a different ministry to be posted as ambassador.

“The petition has been fixed as a first case before the bench of Justice Munir Paracha on Monday,” Mohammad Akram Sheikh, the counsel for 105 senior officers of the foreign office, told Dawn.

He said the appointment of Mohammad Jahanzaib Khan, the first of its kind in 62 years of the country’s history, militated against the 1973 Administrative Reforms introduced by PPP founder late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Jahanzaib Khan, a DMG officer and former secretary of the livestock and dairy development, was appointed as Pakistan’s ambassador in Paris by the president on June 10. The directive was conveyed on phone to the foreign affairs secretary by the secretary general to the president.

The prime minister through principal secretary, the secretary general and Jahanzaib Khan are respondents in the petition, which has sought a direction from the high court to declare the appointment as illegal.

Out of 105 petitioners, 16 are senior career diplomats serving in BS-20 either as ambassadors or consul general, minister or director general in important countries and cities like Rome, Barcelona, London, Birmingham, Washington, New Delhi, New York, Hong Kong and China.

Mr Jahanzaib Khan, according to the petitioners, was promoted to BS-20 as recently as April this year.

They sought a comprehensive criterion for selection of non-career and career diplomats for appointment as ambassadors to Pakistan missions abroad based on well-defined merit, experience and specialised professional skills and that the laid down criteria in making fu ture appointments be adhered to strictly.

The petition contended that the appointment of Jahanzaib Khan was manifestly arbitrary, whimsical, unreasonable and discriminatory, based on extraneous considerations and above all contrary to the best interests of the country as well as demoralising for the Pakistan Foreign Service.

“By appointing Mr Khan as ambassador, the president acted without lawful authority and denied the prime minister the right to exercise his choice independently in a just, fair and reasonable manner,” the petition argued.

Pakistan has always appointed very senior and seasoned diplomats to Paris, including Samiullah Khan Dehlari, Ikramullah, Niaz A. Naek, Shehryar Khan and Tanvir Ahmed Khan, all having been served as foreign secretaries before the appointment.

Even non-career appointees, such as Nawab Muzaffar Ali Qizilbash, Sahibzada Yaqoob Ali Khan and Jamshed Marker, had stature and experience in public life rendering them suitable for such sensitive assignment.